GAINESVILLE, Fla.–I made it from St. Petersburg to beautiful McKethan Stadium in just two hours this morning, and it seemed even quicker than that thanks to E Street Radio and Margaritaville’s Buffett Buffet on XM Radio. I was greeted here in Gainesville by blue skies, 70 degree weather and Spanish moss overhanging the sun-drenched streets–pretty serene.

We’ve got a nice crowd here for the Louisville-Florida finale, which will likely be cut short by a strict 2:30 p.m. curfew to allow the Cardinals to make their 6 p.m. flight out of Tampa. The Cardinals are trying to salvage a win out of this three-game series after losing a tight game Friday and playing about as poorly as they can play in yesterday’s 10-4 loss. They’ll have to do it without sparkplug shortstop John Dao, who is out today while nursing a sore knee. Louisville is also without freshman lefthander Keith Landers for a couple of weeks thanks to a sore shoulder, but I’m expecting to see their other stud freshman arm (Tony Zych) in relief today. The Cardinals are starting righty Matt Lea, and Florida is countering with one of the nation’s best freshmen in lefthander Nick Maronde.

I’ll have a full report on this game tomorrow in Three Strikes.